CNN Readies First HD Documentary

“CNN Presents: Planet in Peril,” a two-night CNN documentary filmed around the world and capturing what the cable news network calls “a crisis happening in real time,” will air Oct. 23 and 24. Coming soon after the premiere of its CNN-HD channel, it will be CNN’s first documentary to air in high definition.

The special will be co-anchored by Anderson Cooper, Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin. The four hours of primetime content will target what CNN considers the top four threats to Earth--deforestation, climate change, overpopulation and loss of various species. Correspondents visited four continents and more than a dozen countries for the project, according to CNN.

CNN site coverage includes the dwindling Amazon River Basin in Brazil, open markets for endangered species in Thailand and Cambodia, the melting ice sheet in Greenland, polar bears in Alaska and other locales.